United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has sounded a stark warning to world leaders over the looming threat of renewed nuclear tests, urging immediate global action to prevent history from repeating itself.
Speaking on the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, Guterres declared: “Stop playing with fire. Now is the time to silence the bombs before they speak again.”
His message came as the world marked the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear detonation — the 1945 Manhattan Project test in New Mexico — which ushered in the nuclear age. Since then, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have been conducted worldwide, leaving a devastating legacy of radioactive fallout, contaminated lands and waters, displaced communities, and generations battling chronic health crises.
The International Day was first declared by the UN General Assembly in 2009 after Kazakhstan closed the notorious Semipalatinsk test site, which has since become a global symbol of the movement against nuclear weapons testing.
Amid growing geopolitical tensions, Guterres stressed that nuclear testing remains a clear and present danger: “We must never forget the horrific legacy of over 2,000 nuclear tests. The world cannot accept this.”
He renewed his call for nations to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), adopted in 1996 but still not in force nearly three decades later, warning that global peace and security depend on collective commitment to disarmament.
